Nearly three decades of cedar, decks, strange repairs and one very small raspberry-liqueur incident that will remain mostly off the website.
Superior was registered in 1998, but the trade started years earlier—and the business was never part of a grand plan.
The polished version is simple: Superior Cedar & Deck Restoration has been serving St. Louis-area customers since 1998. The real version is more interesting.
Before Superior
Brett first learned staining and sealing work as a teenager. In 1997 his father, a realtor with three display homes, asked him to stain the decks. He did the work without the right equipment and finished convinced he never wanted to do it again.
Apparently that didn't stick
The following year, a tax refund became a power washer, paint sprayer and two ladders. Superior was registered as a fictitious name in 1998 and the first jobs came through coworkers at Brett's night job. Coworkers led to neighbors; decks led to larger cedar projects; and by 2003 the side business was demanding more hours than a person working nights had available.
The “real job” lost
By then a run of five cedar homes on one street had made the choice fairly obvious. Superior became Brett's full-time work in 2003 and has remained that way ever since, aside from occasional winter jobs during the slow season.
The part that hasn't changed: if Brett's name is going on a project, the price is based on doing it in a way he is willing to stand behind. Serious problems don't get hidden under a prettier surface.
A long time ago, on an About page far, far away…
One previous Superior website introduced the company with a contractor who would “keep the dark side away,” then featured completely trustworthy testimonials from George Washington and Marilyn Monroe. Customers called laughing. The new site is better behaved—but not so well behaved that we forgot there is a human being behind the company.